Saturday, July 12, 2014

The Sower and the Seed

15th Sunday
in Ordinary Time

Today’s first reading is
clearly an introduction to the famous parable recounted in today’s gospel
account of the sower and the seed. Isaiah compares the word of God to the rain
and snow that make everything blossom and grow. Without this moisture which
comes down from above there would be no life on earth. Obviously Isaiah is
talking about much more than rain and snow. For him the word of God is more
real and more important than the rain and snow.

My
word shall not return to me void,

But
shall do my will,

Achieving
the end for which I sent it.

In today’s parable Jesus
shares Isaiah’s view. He even quotes from Isaiah. The parable of the sower and
the seed is one of the most famous but it is also the only one which Jesus
bothers to explain to his puzzled disciples. In Matthew’s account the seed,
that is, the word of God, falls in different places with different results.
Some falls on the hardened, trodden down path and is quickly eaten by the
birds. Some falls on rocky ground where there is little soil to nourish it.
Some falls among thorns or weeds which choke it. Finally, the rest falls on
good soil and produces a bountiful harvest.

What is the meaning of this
parable? After telling His disciples why He uses parables, Jesus then explains
to them the meaning of this one. Let’s try to put His explanation in our own
words. In the first place, He equates the seed sown in the path with those who
hear the word of God without understanding it. Who could that be?

How many people today have
only the most rudimentary knowledge of their own faith? For how many of us does
our religious education stop with the eighth grade? Is there any other field of
endeavor in which we would be content to stay at the eighth grade level? What
would we think of a job application where the candidate’s schooling stopped at
the eighth grade? Why do we spend thousands of dollars trying to get a college
degree? What professional athlete would be content with eighth grade skills?
Even when they make the pros they have to keep acquiring new skills in order to
remain competitive. Why should life be any different?

The second case of the rocky
ground is more difficult. We all know of people whose faith has been shaken and
even lost by some setback, some sorrow, and even some tragedy. Our Lord speaks
of tribulation. But today, how many people have lost their faith because of a
bad marriage or a divorce? How many have lost it because of some word spoken by
an insensitive priest or religious? How many have lost their faith because of
the scandalous behavior of a few priests? Finally, it is so sad to see the
death or illness of a loved one cause someone to question their beliefs.

We don’t have to work too
hard to understand the third category.

The
seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word,

But
then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word

And
it bears no fruit.

Worldly anxiety is something
we can all relate to. It requires no dramatic event or crisis. It creeps up on
us slowly and before we know it we are in its grasp. Young people know how
important it is to have friends, but often the desire to be popular and
well-liked can take over and ruin their lives. We all know that it is important
for us to work hard in order to provide for the basic needs of our families,
but how often do we see men and women so consumed by their work that their
families are seriously hurt in the process of getting ahead? Even the elderly
can fall into a daily routine that chokes them like the thorns in today’s
gospel.

Life is full of snares and
traps. Maybe that is what St. Paul had in mind in today’s reading from the
Letter to the Romans.

for
creation was made subject to futility,

not
of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it.

There is no denying that
there is pain and suffering in the world. Paul continually urges his followers
to remain steadfast in their beliefs and not to turn their backs on God, or
ignore the teaching of his Son, Jesus. As in any endeavor there is a reward for
perseverance.

I
consider that the sufferings of the present time are as nothing

Compared
with the glory to be revealed.

The seed, the grace of God,
has been given to us all. It is not just the saints and martyrs who have borne
fruit. They are just the tip of a huge iceberg. God’s grace is not a pious
fiction. Despite all the pain and suffering in the world today, we just have to
look around us to see in a multitude of acts of kindness, generosity, and
unselfish charity the bountiful harvest that the seed of God is still
producing.